Feeding and spacing mechanism for metal sheets.



1; GARDNER; FEEDING AND SPACING MECHANISM FOR METAL SHEETS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-14,1914- Patented Mar. 27, 1917.

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L GARDNER. FEEDING AND SPACING MECHANISM FOR METAL SHEETS.

APPLICATION FILED OCT-v1.4. i914.

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JAMES GARDNER, 01E COLLEGE HILL BOROUGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB T0 ASBES- TOS PROTECTED METAL COMPANY, OF BEAVER FALLS, PENNSYLVANIA, A COR- POBATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

FEEDING: AND SPACING MECHANISM FOR METAL SHEETS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 27, 19ft.

Application filed October 14, 1914. Serial No. 866,706.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, JAMEs GARDNER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of College Hill, in the county of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in Feeding and Spacing Mechanisms for Metal Sheets, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to mechanism for feeding metal sheets and like objects in a substantially continuous manner, and for automatically spacing said sheets a substantially uniform distance from one another.

The invention is especially adapted for use as the feed, spacing and counting mechanism of an apparatus for forming protected metal sheets, such for instance as that shown and described in U. S. Patent No. 1,002,303, granted September 5, 1911, to Edgar T. Newsome, and to which reference may be had.

The particular features of the invention will be pointed out in the claims at the end of this specification.

Figure 1 is a plan, and

Fig. 2. a side elevation of a feed and spacing mechanism embodying this invention.

Fig. 3, an enlarged section on the line 33, Fig. 1, and

Fig. 4, an enlarged section on the line H, Fig. 1.

The feed mechanism herein shown comprises a plurality of rolls a, which are spaced apart and journaled in suitable side frames 5, c, said rolls having on one end sprocket wheels 03, which are engaged with and driven by an endless link chain 6. The endmost roll a, marked 10, has its shaft 11 provided with a sprocket wheel 12, which is rotated by a link chain 13, driven from a suitable source of power (not shown) but in a manner well understood.

The metal sheets to be fed are laid upon the rolls a and are fed forward toward a spacing mechanism, to be described, and preferably pass under a pressure roll 15., which is located between the endmost roll a (marked 10) and the one next adjacent to it.

The pressure roll 15 is journaled in boxes 16 (see Figs. 3 and 4), which are vertically movable on guide rods 17, and normally held down against stops 18 on said rods, by springs 19, whose tension or pressure can be regulated by nuts 20.

The pressure roll in its lowest position extends below a horizontal plane, which is tangential to the two adjacent feed rolls a between which the pressure roll is located, so as to depress the metal sheet and cause its front end to ride upwardly and be engaged with a spacing mechanism as will now be described. The spacing mechanism referred to is herein shown as a disk 25 fast on a shaft 26, mounted to rotate in journal boxes 27, which are vertically movable on rods 28, erected upon bars 29, which are mounted upon a platform or table 30 to slide thereon, for a purpose as will be described.

The slide bars 29 have extended from them rods 31, which are encircled by springs 32 located on said rods between the slide bars and guiding brackets 83 fastened to the table 30. The journal boxes 27 are held down against the slide bars 29 by springs 3.4., which encircle the rods 28 and whose strength or tension is regulated by the nuts 35 on said rods.

The disk 25 has cooperating with it a lever 36, which is loose on the shaft and is connected with the disk 25, so as to rotate with the latter and to move independently thereof for a purpose as will be described. by pins 40 on the lever 36 extended into slots 41 in the disk (see Fig. 3).

The lever 36 is made longer than the diameter of the disk and is provided with end portions or arms 42, which project beyond the said disk at substantially diametrically opposite points, and which are long enough to engage the metal sheet 43 passing under and in contact with the disk. so as to prcvent forward rotation of the disk while the sheet 43 is passing under the same.

tion of the arrmv Fig. 3. when the we ceding metal sheet has been drawn forward from beneath the disk 25 by a pair of feed rolls 47, 48, which latter may be the same as those shown in the patent above referred to and numbered therein 14, 15.

The table or platform 30 is provided below the disk 25 with a slot 49 (see Fig. l), which is of sufficient length topermit the lever 36 to rotate with the disk 25. Each arm 42 preferably carries on its under side a roller 50, which engages the metal sheet in contact with the disk 25 and serves to raise the arm 42 out of contact with the sheet and thereby reduce the friction, and thus facilitate the forward feed of the metal sheet by the rolls 47, 48. The feed of the metal sheet by the rolls 47, 48, is further facilitated by providing a plurality of supporting rollers 52 for the metal sheet, which are loosely mounted upon a plurality of substantially parallel shafts 53, herein shown as three in number and supported by hangers 54 depending from the under side of the platform or table 30 at the opposite ends thereof. The rollers 52 are arranged with relation to the platform or table 30, so as to project above the upper surface thereof through slots 55 in the said platform, and form an anti-friction support for the metal sheet.

Provision is made for preventing reverse rotation of the disk 25, which is effected by providing a recess or slot 58 in the periphcry of the disk, in which is located a roll 59 journaled in side bars 60, which are extended across said slot and are fastened to the disk 25, as shown in Fig. 3.

The recess or slot 58 is located in the disk with relation to the lever 36, so that when the roll 50 on the arm 42 of said lever engages the metal sheet beneath it, the roll 59 at such time is carried beyond the vertical plane through the center of the shaft 26, andengages the metal sheet or-is located in such close proximity to the same, that it will be engaged with the metal sheet before the roll 59 can be carried backwardly beyond the said vertical plane, thereby preventing-reversal of the stop disk 25. The bars or blocks 29, which support the journal boxes for the shaft 26 are capable of sliding on the platform or table 30 a limited distance, which is permitted by the springs 32, which act as shock absorbers to cushion the blow of the metal sheet against the stop disk 25.

The metal sheets are fed by the feed rolls 47, 48, to the apparatus for coating the same with liquid asphalt or other adhesive composition, when the feed mechanism is used with the apparatus shown in the patent referred to.

Provision is made for supporting the metal sheets between the rolls a, and for this purpose, the space between some of the adjacent rolls a is practically closed by supmetal sheet under the disk 25.

plemental supports in the form of metal bars or frames 72 (see Fig. 1).

Provision is also made for guiding the metal sheet in its forward movement over the rolls a, which is effected by guide rolls 73, loosely mounted on pins 74 extended upwardly from supports 75 erected upon the side frames 6, 0.

Provision is further made for facilitating the placing of the metal sheets individually on the rolls a, and to this end, a table or support is provided which extends laterally away from the side frame 0 and is located above the level of the rolls a, so that the metal sheet can he slid by the operator onto the rolls a with little effort, and when on said rolls can be arranged properly by the operator. To this end, the table or support is preferably made as herein shown and consists of a series of parallel I-beams 77 (see Fig. 1), which are spaced apart a sufiicient distance to enable the operator to ass between adjacent beams and manipu ate the metal sheet on the rolls.

The metal beams 77 are supported at one end upon the side frame a and at their other end in any suitable manner.

The operation of the apparatus herein shown may be briefly described as follows:

The initial metal sheet 43 is slid from the table or support 77 upon the feed rolls a, and is properly positioned by the operator, so as to be carried forward by the rolls 0. toward the spacing mechanism.

The metal sheet 43 is carried under the pressure roll 15 and over the roll a, marked '10, and the front end of the same 18 passed under the arm 42 of the lever 36, which is lifted by the operator for this purpose and then allowed to drop upon the metal sheet, which is then fed forward until it is gripped by the feed rolls 47, 48, which draw the A second metal sheet (marked 45) is placed upon the feed rolls a with its front end overlapping the rear end of the sheet 43, and the second sheet is arrested in its forward movement by the stop disk 25 as represented in Fig. 3, until the preceding or underlying sheet 43 passes under the arm 42 of the lever 36, at

which time the disk 25 is free to be given a half turn by the forwardly moving sheet 43, assisted by the second metal sheet 45, which pushes upon the arm 42 until the sheet 45 engages the disk 25 and continues to rotate the same until the second arm 42 of the lever 36 is brought down into engagement with the sheet 45 and into position to guide a third metal sheet up against the stop disk, which latter is at such time held stationar by the engagement of the roller 50 on said second arm with the second metal sheet.

It will be observed that the arm 42 in the revolution of the lever 36 is interposed between the preceding and succeeding metal sheets, which efl'ects a proper and substan tially uniform spacing of said metal sheets, which is desirable when the metal sheets coated with asphalt or other adhesive ma terial are interposed between continuous layers of asbestos as described in the patent referred to. f

The side frames 6, c, with the rolls a constitute a feed table provided with rotatable supporting members for the metal sheets.

The springs 34 press the disk 25 down on the metal sheet passing under it with sufficient force to insure rotation of said disk by said sheet when the metal sheet passes by the roll 50.

The mechanism herein shown is adapted for handling metal sheets of substantial width, but it is not desired to limit the invention in this respect, as the feed mechanism is capable of being adapted to sheets or strips of various widths.

Claims:

1. In a mechanism of the character described, in combination, a plurality of feed rolls to support a metal sheet, means for rotatin g said feed rolls, a presser roll to engage the upper surface of the metal sheet while supported by said feed rolls, a device for spacing successive metal sheets comprising a rotatable disk beneath which said metal sheets are passed to effect rotation thereof, and against which each succeeding sheet abuts to arrest the forward movement of each of said succeeding sheets, and a stop arm movable with said disk and engaged with a preceding'metal sheet to prevent rotation of Said disk by said preceding metal sheet until the rear end of said preceding sheet has passed under said arm and allowed the latter to be interposed between the rear end of the preceding sheet and the front end of the next succeeding sheet, substantially as described. I

2. In a mechanism of the character de scribed, in combination, a rotatable disk, a shaft on which said disk is mounted, a lever mounted on said shaft and having arms extended beyond the circumference of said disk to engage a metal sheet passing under said disk and stop rotation of the latter at each half turn of the said disk means for supporting said metal sheet as it passes below said disk, means for feedingsaid metal sheet beneath said disk, and means to cause a succeeding sheet to pass above the arm engaged with the metal sheet below disk, said roller and arm being arranged with relation to each other to engage the sheet on opposite sides of a vertical plane through the center of said disk, for the purpose specified.

4. In a mechanism of the character described, in combination, a rotatable device,

a shaft on which said device is mounted, and an arm movable with said device and projecting beyond the same to engage a sheet passing under the said device and prevent rotation of said device until said sheet has passed from under said arm, means for supporting said metal sheet as it passes beneath said device, means for feeding said metal sheet beneath said device, means to cause a succeeding sheet to pass above said arm and engage said device, and yielding means to permit said device to be moved backward when engaged by said sueceeding sheet, substantially as described.

5. In a mechanism of the character described, in combination, means for feeding in succession a plurality of sheets arranged with the front end of a succeeding sheet overlappin the rear end of a preceding sheet, means for feeding the preceding sheet independently of the first-mentioned feeding means, and a stop and spacing mechanism arranged between the said feed mechanisms and cooperating with both sheets simultaneously to arrest the feed of the succeeding sheet and to be moved by the preceding sheet so as to be interposed between said sheets to space them apart, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES GARDNER.

Witnesses:

H. F. Hawkins, Josnrn MYSHRALL. 

